I’m all about finding solutions for chronic messes.
Solutions that actually work.
For years now, I’ve been singing the praises of my wash-the-dishes-every-single-night-and-put-them-away-every-single-morning method. The one I blab on and on about in my book, How to Manage Your Home Without Losing Your Mind.
That method works. It totally does. It changed the way my home functions.
But I don’t do it anymore. I don’t have to. I’ve found THE best way to avoid dirtying glasses and cups (which used to take up the entire top half of my dishwasher each and every night)!
We don’t use them.
Instead, we’ve purchased a single (affiliate link alert) Drink Funnel
Once I thought about it, I realized there were two reasons why I felt compelled to wash cups and glasses:
- They never get completely empty, and the small amount of milk or juice or now-germy water in the bottom of the glass must be washed out. Otherwise, ewwww.
- People’s mouths touch the rims of the glasses. Again with the germs.
The Drink Funnel solves both of these problems.
The liquid pours straight through the funnel, eliminating the excess that stays in the bottom of a traditional glass, and the funnel eliminates the need for the mouth to ever touch anything.
Here’s how we use it. When someone is thirsty, he/she knows to find the Drink Funnel next to the kitchen sink. In the beginning, I reminded the kids over and over that they must return the funnel to its designated space.
We drink mostly water, and that is the easiest of all drinks to use with the Drink Funnel. The kids simply angle the funnel to press against the drink dispenser on our fridge, and then place their open mouths under the narrow end. They’ve learned (the hard way, haha!!) to only dispense the water in small amounts. It definitely doesn’t work like a water fountain!!
One certain child (who tends to have a better way of doing EVERYthing) truly believed he could bypass the funnel and simply stick his head under the dispenser. You can’t do that. The angle is wrong.
I might have been a little giddy when proven right.
Milk and juice require a little more finesse, since one hand holds the funnel while the other handles the container. Honestly, the kids usually help each other out.
Hubby was most resistant to giving up his coffee cup, but when he saw how much easier it was to keep the kitchen clean, he finally agreed. Now he’s such a believer that I have to MAKE him use a real coffee cup when we’re in a restaurant!
The final (and most important) step is to have each family member rinse the funnel after each use. Honestly, it’s not necessary with water, but the habit aspect is very important so I just have them rinse after each and every use.
This has worked so well for our family, I’m seriously considering eliminating plates as well. I’ll keep you posted on how that goes.
Important facts:
The entire purpose of the Drink Funnel is defeated if anyone puts his/her mouth on it.
Children should be closely supervised until they master the art of using the Drink Funnel. They should never, ever drink hot liquids with the Drink Funnel. They can try hot chocolate at Grandma’s house.
Technically, no one should ever actually use the Drink Funnel at all, since this entire post is an April Fool’s Joke.
Happy April Fool’s Day!!! Want to play a great prank on your family tonight? See my April Fool’s Day dinner menu here.
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--Nony
Hahahaha good one. I KNEW this was a joke the second you said drink funnel. LOL
I love this!!! My husband is on the way to the store to pick up ingredients for our gourmet “fools” dinner. I just I were going to be home to eat with the kids tonight. 🙁
I just *wish* I were going to be home this evening. I wish I could do a better job of proofing before hitting “post”, too. Maybe I should invest in a coffee funnel?
Hahaha!!!
Very good April Fool’s post – you had me for a second there… only for a second, I swear! Now if there could be an actual solution to avoiding piles of dirty cups and glasses….. lol!
The best thing that I have found for our family of 6 is to have a certain color of glass for each member. Or each one have a different looking glass. We start out with our glass in the morning and they all go into the dishwasher at night. Since we all know which one is ours we don’t “wonder which one was our water glass” every hour and keep getting out more cups ( if you think this is an exaggeration, you must not have 4 little kids running around! LOL). If we have juice, milk, or soda we just rinse or hand wash our own glasses. We don’t drink hot beverages often but if your family does you can just have a different kind of mug for everything. This makes for 6 glasses going into the dishwasher every night instead of a million! ( okay that was an exaggeration!) Also keeps glasses showing up all over the house because if they left it somewhere they have to go find it for dinner.:)
keeps glasses FROM showing up all over the house LOL
Oh my! You made me laugh, I was perlexed for awhile, but by the time I got to the coffee portion, I was like no way this isn’t right! Great April Fools!!
I suspect that while this would save on dishes, it would add significantly to laundry! 🙂
I get your posts through email. After searching desperately for the LIKE button, I realized I was going to have to actually click the link and comment. After my own morning’s April Fools pranks were ill-received, I really needed a good laugh. Thank you! It makes me want to try again this evening 🙂
LOVED the joke!! You had me at the frig, started freaking out at the juice and laughing my butt off at the coffee!! I should have caught on sooner since amazon already tricked me this morning!!
These photos made me laugh! So neat! I don’t think the funnel is for me, but glad you found something that works for you!! hahahahahaha btw, I totally believed you.
Ok this was too funny! I, disbelievingly believed you…until the coffee pot. But didn’t even think about a prank until…you are too funny.
I was legitimately horrified until I got to the end of the post and realized what day it was. Whew!
You really got me! Ha. Thanks for the good laugh!
OH THANK GOD! All I could think while I was reading your post was “That is ABSOLUTELY DIGUSTING! I was truly appalled. I thought “Why doesn’t she just try our method…my husband nd I drink mostly (ice) water so we keep ONE large cup filled all day long…and often for several days at a time, since we use a straw with it. I use the same coffee cup and just give it a quick sudsy rinse between my cups of coffee and put it back under the coffeemaker where it essentially “lives”. Once a month I throw it into the dishwasher for a good cleaning. We produce very few dirty dishes, as we also practice the reuse of what we call “gently used” plates. For instance, if hubby has a piece of cake at night, he brushes off the crumbs and uses it again in the morning for his toast. It’s just common sense. I am very glad you are NOT really using that funnel-thing and yes, you got me, APRIL FOOLS!
You totally got me Nony. I was sitting here thinking how on earth can he drink hot coffee with it, I’d hate that! It made me laugh out loud when I got to the end ! Brilliantly written and photographed!
That was fabulous! Your family is so much fun. 😀
I was beginning to wonder about your sanity. lol 🙂
You are a hoot!
You really had me going, especially the coffee part. I was actually trying to figure out how to get cream and sugar in there, too. =)
Hahaha! I was really intrigued and you had me until you wrote “single.” I knew whatever came after that was an April Fool’s joke. Hahahaa. I loved it though! Looks like the family had tons of fun helping with the photo prep.
You absolutely got me! How very funny well done.
HOW on earth did you get your your hubby to keep a straight face while taking his picture? I was for real laughing out loud looking at it!
Oh dear god almighty. I’m so glad I read to the end. I was about to just… cry.
Oh you totally had me!! Good one. 🙂
I was pretty skeptical until the last picture with the coffee! Now i am SOLD!! must buy!
I almost spit my water all over my computer. Water that I drank from a bottle mind you, not a funnel =)
Best thing I’ve read all day. And props to your kids for helping out on this one!
So, no joke, today is my birthday. All my life I have fallen for every single April Fool’s Day joke because the only thing on my mind is my birthday. I turn 32 today, you’d think I’d catch on by now! HAHA You totally had me!
Happy birthday!! (A day late!!)
Too funny! Someone actually shared it in our homemaking group on Facebook! Awesome sauce 😉
Sooo Funny : D
Well played!
I went to India in January and the boarding school I was at had 34 girls and they shared 2 cups. They had a barrel full of water and dipped the cups in. They drank without putting their mouth on the cup. Saw folks all around town drinking that way.
“jodi” – that reminds me of Little House on the Prairie books (and others) that mention drinking from a dipper. If the dipper has a little spout, then it’d be easier to avoid touching the mouth. I too, laughed out loud at this post!
That was great. Thanks for the laugh! Although I was really contemplating this being a good idea for a while.
You had me going for a while! Too funny. The only way I’ve found to avoid the cup mountain in the sink (still training hubby to put items DIRECTLY in the dishwasher–why would you take two steps when you can just take one?) is to HIDE OR GET RID OF every single extra cup. Seriously, between the two of us, there can be 6-7 cups by the end of each day. When I limited the supply in the cabinet to four, the house became much cleaner. Hubby was forced to find his water glass instead of just blindly grabbing a new one. This also works well for dishes. I must also note that in addition to hiding “normal” drinking glasses, one must also hide wine glasses, etc. Hubby is not beyond simply grabbing a wine glass to drink water out of if he cannot find a water cup.
I love how drenched the front of your daughter’s shirt was, haha
Hahahahaha! I was laughing so hard I cried! We are in the car and my husband thought I was crazy! I needed that good laugh! I can’t stop smiling!
Well you got me. I was thinking you and I were really similar then I read this and I was like what this just looks so dumb?! So glad it was an April Fool!!!
Man, I was going for a real tip! Lol!
You really got me. I am so glad I waited till the end! Usually you are so right on with how my mind works. But as you are speaking my mind was thinking a thousand things mostly on how the germs and bacteria from everyone sharing the same fun all over and over again. Just wanted you to know I am so glad I found your page you are very motivational for me!
Bwahahaha! Dying!
I’m just reading this now and you TOTALLY had me going…maybe because I didn’t notice the date it was posted and maybe because I just spent some time at my minimalist friend’s house. She got rid of her plates and bowls and they all eat out of cake pans – if they have more than one course they wash their “plowls” in between! Not joking, honest!
I read this today, not noticing the date… I was fooled and confused. Thank you, you’re hilarious.
I knew it had to be a joke with the words “drink funnel,” but seriously my grandparents (both sets) had a “dipper” that everyone drank water from out of the spigot or an old fashioned pump well. Talk about a communal drinking vessel.
So I am reading the blog backwards and don’t notice the dates usually. I thought the water was true but by the juice and seeing your daughter’s shirt all wet I wasn’t so convinced and the coffee was the kicker! It was funny though!! Really funny!
Thanks for this!!! We need all the laughs we can get!
Best 4-1 EVER!
I haven’t read hardly any emails from the 1st because :
1) Fear of mean viruses (although something YOU would NEVER do)
2) No time – just spent the last 57 days taking care of an ill relative and my emails had gotten up to 3900 UNREAD
Finally getting around to clearing out emails in FROM name order. I HAD to read yours because Hubby goes through at least 6 PER DAY! Even when just water, after drinking he puts the cup in the sink! (We don’t have a mechanical dishwasher; only a human one).
So after reading I was going to send him your email.
OK, you got me! I hadn’t noticed the date sent and was SHOCKED at the unsanitary-ness. But your ideas are always GREAT, so I kept reading.
But after the coffee photo, a light bulb went off in my brain.
THANKS for the funny – my face is hurting from laughing and grinning.
Peace, Love, Blessings, Health and Happiness to you and your family –
especially during this coronovirus ordeal.